A major portion of the Park is circumnavigated by a one-way road. A mile in, movement beside the road caught my eye. Stopping, I found the first indication that not everything will follow the rules during this trip…

An overcast sky is an ugly, brighter-than-anything-else, off-white. The two photographer's general rules are to first, treat the resulting light as gift - it works wonders with flowers, creatures, and objects that benefit from uniform, shadow free lighting. Second, compose pictures that exclude the sky.

My first indication that things might be possible was found on the edge of The Tarn

Wandering into the Sieur de Monts I found a blaze of muted color - yellows and oranges with a touch of red - so I sought out the combination

Another perspective, with a bit of creativity...

In the foggy, drizzly, overcast gloom, the classic, large groves of highly colored trees were not in evidence so I looked for smaller examples

Continuing around the one-way road, I stopped to admire colorful trees. Looking down, I found...

Acadia was established before the era of automobiles; it is threaded with a comprehensive network of carriage roads that weave past the major sites as well as lovely streams and woodlands. These are now shared by rented carriage rides, horsemen, mountain bikes, and dedicated hikers. And a few photographers

As the first day ended, I relaxed on the lawn in front of the Jordan Pond Restaurant, admiring the pond engulfed in fog

Alone among the National Parks, only Acadia has an extensive system of over 50 miles of gravel carriage paths that vastly exceed the number of miles of paved road

The Carriage Roads were conceived, financed, and construction closely supervised by John D. Rockefeller Jr. as a gift to the park. They reflect a quieter time when the areas that now make up the park elected to ban automobiles from the island.

Wide enough for two carriages to pass (16 feet), the roads weave around the mountains and valleys. The system was carefully designed to provide beautiful perspectives of lakes, vistas, streams, waterfalls, and hillsides. Conveniently, at the center of the system is Jordan Pond with a gracious restaurant serving tea and delightful popovers.

Paths are clearly marked with plenty of signage designed to read by a carriage driver:

Rockefeller financed 16 of the 17 stone-faced bridges that span streams, waterfalls, roads, and cliff sides. The use of native stone on the exterior gives a rustic look with innards of steel-reinforced concrete - built to last

Views from the bridges are stunning -- Maple Spring Trail above the Hemlock Bridge

Though there is a small horse-drawn carriage concession, today the roads are largely used by hikers, joggers, bicycles, horses, those seeking seclusion, and a few photographers

Mid-morning stroll

Beyond the plants, trees, and human sightseers, there was a variety of other life at Acadia. I was able to photograph only a fraction; here are some highlights

The animal core of engineers was widely present in numbers far exceeding my California park experiences. I found recently completed work

A sample of their lodging

And work-in-progress along one of the heavily walked trails at Jordon Pond

For perspective, the shoreline with the work-in-progress is just to the right of this photograph

Located along the coast, Acadia had plenty of seagull. This one was perched on the roof of my rental car, intently watching the two women at the next car load their trunk. Brazenly, it stayed put while I opened my trunk, extracted a long lens, closed the trunk, and make its portrait

Acadia is split into several pieces; on one of the western most small pieces known as Pretty Marsh was an incredible field of rolling mounds covered in a liken / moss blanket dotted with fungus

All watched over by a host of extraterrestrial stars and potentially worlds

Maine is known for its rugged, rocky, weather-beaten cliffs. One of the classic Maine photos is a rocky coast augmented with a spectacular sunrise.

Acadia National Park has a famous 2-mile stretch of its primary loop road that hugs the cliffs and offers many potential photographic spots. Needless to say, it was swarming with photographers at sunrise

Unfortunately, mother nature had not received the memo and neglected to provide sufficient clouds to create the "required" effect. I could find interesting patterns in the sky

But that was using a long telephoto lens and concentrating on the horizon. Trying to bring in the rocks, and a sea "glow" only produced this

But all is not lost, with the ocean beating, the cliffs still provide a relaxing environment for an afternoon reprise

Or just exploring

The other classic Maine coastal photo is a lighthouse - and the Bass Harbor Lighthouse is #1 on the list. An hour before dusk, there were over 50 photographers clinging to the edge of the cliff waiting for the light. But the light never arrived.

Using my iPhone as a camera and a manipulative darkroom, this is the direction of what the photographers wanted, but real life did not provide

I love reflections. Calm water, an interesting subject, good light, and I am near heaven. This email is a collection of some of my favorites from Acadia National Park.

Reflections come in many forms. Symmetry requires beautifully still water similar to this scene at Somes Pond that I stumbled across when I took a wrong turn looking for Pretty Marsh

Or a reflection may be a mediation on the light itself, implying the source. This is late afternoon, close to sunset

The reflection may be a component, rather than the dominant feature as in this quiet spot along the edge of The Tarn, circled by the Kane Path

Colors vary with the source and quality of the light as shown in the reflections from trees receiving their first, gentle light as the sun emerged above the trees behind me at a pond along Schooner Head Road that I saw out of the corner of my eye as I returned from an unremarkable coastal sunrise

As the sun rose further, its warmth stirred the air, a breeze intensified, and the relative stillness of the pond departed. Just before the reflections were washed away in the ripples, I caught this view of the same pond, a few minutes later

Reflections can be mirror like images

Beaver Dam Pond, as sunset approaches

A few minutes later, with a telephoto lens to focus on the trees

Witch Hole Pond, along a carriage road, in a pause in the rain in a completely overcast, gray day

First, my favorite from the trip in the category what is it? Pond swirls

A small waterfall as the stream exiting from Jordon Pond heads to the sea

Proof that Acadia does have clouds that would have made great sunrises and sunsets had the clouds not evaporated by the ends of the day (looking west from Cadillac Mountain across Eagle Lake 3 hours after sunrise)

Looking southeast from the summit of Cadillac Mountain; an iPhone image using my clip-on sunglasses as a polarizing filter

My favorite small stream at the entrance to the Kane Path

Finally, a burst of color because I grew up in Los Angeles where fall foliage is a foreign term. In LA, the leaves slowly turn brown over the course of the winter and then are pushed off the trees by the new leaves in the spring. The concept of fall foliage was a odd as snow -- something one goes to, rather than something that comes to you

Seeking the beauty in life